On July 15, 2024, from Brazil's National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), was published in the Official Gazette of the Union. This enables Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) to commercialize marine fuel oil (bunker) with up to 24% v/v of fatty-acid methyl esters (FAME or B100), in compliance with the respective specifications established by the ANP for these products.
will be in force until the updating of of November 18, 2022, which provides for the specifications of fuels for waterway use.
Between September 2022 and January 2024, Petrobras carried out ANP-authorized tests on ships using biodiesel blends of between 10% and 24% biodiesel (B100) content. According to the ANP, the results showed that the ships' engines and other operating systems operated without problems and that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were reduced. In the last test, confirmed the absence of problems and represented an emissions reduction of around 19% compared to fuel without renewable content.
Producers do not foresee changes in fuels. The blend from the bunker and biodiesel fuels will be prepared at the terminal following the for each one.
In line with these developments, SGS INSPIRE has recently updated its fuel specification database for marine fuel with the new , Products from petroleum, synthetic and renewable sources — Fuels (class F) — Specifications of marine fuels (seventh edition), published in May 2024. This voluntary standard includes the following fuels with an agreed FAME content:
1Distillate and bio-distillate marine fuels Category ISO-F-DF (three different grades)
2Bio-residual marine fuels Category ISO-F-RF (five different viscosity grades)
The FAME used for blending must be in accordance with the requirements of , Liquid petroleum products — FAME for use in diesel engines and heating applications— Requirements and test methods (except for sulfur content, cloud point and cold filter plugging point) or , Standard Specification for Biodiesel Fuel Blend Stock (B100) for Middle Distillate Fuels (except for sulfur content), as a blend component in both distillate and residual fuels up to 100 %.
For more information, consult the SGS INSPIRE fuel specification database, the overview of and the overview of in Brazil.